archaeology

In the archaeology
series, I was thinking about how we create images
of past worlds from a few pieces, of belongings,
of artifacts dug up out of the earth. The archaeology
here, though, is of the creative intellect: the
"dig" takes place there... [continued]

TITLE:
archaeology i

MATERIALS:
intaglio

SIZE:
230 x 305 mm.
9 x 12 in.

TITLE:
archaeology ii

MATERIALS:
intaglio

SIZE:
230 x 305 mm.
9 x 12 in.

TITLE:
archaeology iii

MATERIALS:
intaglio

SIZE:
230 x 305 mm.
9 x 12 in.

TITLE:
archaeology iv

MATERIALS:
intaglio

SIZE:
230 x 305 mm.
9 x 12 in.

TITLE:
archaeology v

MATERIALS:
intaglio

SIZE:
230 x 305 mm.
9 x 12 in.

TITLE:
archaeology vi

MATERIALS:
intaglio

SIZE:
230 x 305 mm.
9 x 12 in.

Interpretation is a particular kind of narrative
we spin, in trying to elaborate an idea, a context,
a culture, from a fragment, often small and stumbled-upon.
We can draw a story out of the smallest impression.
We shape our worlds that way.

In the archaeology series, I was thinking about
how we create images of past worlds from a few pieces,
of belongings, of artifacts dug up out of the earth.
The archaeology here, though, is of the creative
intellect: the "dig" takes place there;
clues to the world under construction are found
in the interplay between the intellect and the medium.
Physical process mirrors thought: the act of breaking
the surface, digging down, uncovering, examining,
assembling the elements of image. Each plate began
with random markings eaten into the copper surface.
I laid the grounds unevenly, I brushed acid directly
onto the plate, I used soft grounds and impressed
found objects into them. On some of the plates I
scratched in patterns I had lifted from cracked
and eroded stones. The actions in each phase of
working on each plate were determined by the "proof"
of the preceding phase; I worked to elaborate the
first accidental findings.

All this is to suggest that we each shape our worlds
by accumulation, that the worlds we create are made
of interpretations of what comes up once the surface
has been broken through.